The Start Point Schedule allows the user to specify the number of Work Items that enter a simulation through a Start Point. The arrival times and volume of items arriving are specified in a table of data. This data is also stored in an internal SIMUL8 spreadsheet, giving you flexibility to control it even through Visual Logic at run time if needed.

To access the Start Point Schedule double click on the Start point to enter the properties dialog and activate the checkbox called Schedule. The dialog below will open.

It initially opens with an example of the syntax you can use to create your schedule.

The key points to note are:

Column one contains the time that the Work Items will arrive.

Column two contains the number of Work Items that will arrive at the given time.

The arrival times can be in the format of:

Number of minutes past the simulation start time (i.e. 245 will set an arrival at 13:05 assuming the start time is 9am)

Time of arrival (i.e. 10:20 - NOTE this arrival will only happen on the first day)

To allow arrivals to happen on a daily basis enter the word REPEAT in the cell below the last entry of column one. This means a daily arrival profile can be specified that occurs each day of the simulation run.

To use the normal batching value as specified in the Start Point enter a value of -1 in the quantity column.